Traditional gender expectations and a general distrust of the media are among the top obstacles young female journalists face in Qatar, several local women told the Thomson Reuters Foundation while on a trip to London:

All of them agreed with Nada Hassan Foud, who said, “The challenges are rather huge because you’re talking about a society almost allergic to cameras. You point a camera at almost anybody and they start freaking out.”

However, almost all of the students said they are detecting positive signs of change in the attitude toward female journalists and women in general in Qatar and the region and expressed hope that it will continue.

Thoughts?